MORE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS

THE PUZZLE

Object of the puzzles

To make a series of varying size rectangles - or PENTA - using four or more pentominoes on the adjustable board. The bigger the PENTA the harder it gets.

Important

All of the pentominoes can be placed in any revolution or rotation on the board except pentomino no.1 [ the straight one ] which can only be placed HORIZONTALLY.

A worked example with the Row A on the 'Super Chelem' list

Position the divider vertically in the slot to the right of '5' on the board to make the 5x5 PENTA. Take the first five pentominoes indicated on the list on Row A. That is numbers: 2, 4, 6, 10 and 11, now fit them into the PENTA!

Next, move the divider up one notch to the right of the '6', keeping your original five pentominoes, pick out pentomino no.8 [as indicated by Column 6, Row A] to make six pieces. Now solve PENTA 6!

Progress further up the board, taking each additional pentomino in turn as indicated by Row A until you have solved PENTA 11. You can do the same for each Row - A through to L.

Once you have solved every one of the 84 PENTA combinations on the list you will have completed the 'Super Chelem' or Super Slam!

Other possibilities for puzzles

1.  Solve the '12' series of the 'Grand Chelem' (96 PENTA) or the '40' series of 'Challenge' (160 PENTA).

2.  Choose your pentominoes at random from the 12 to solve a particular sized PENTA. There are over 36,000 combinations! Email the solutions to us to add to the hints section!

3.  There are four different shapes that exist for the 12 PENTA, as seen in Fig.1 below.

4.  A three times scale model in two-dimensions of every pentomino can be made using nine others, as seen in Fig.2 below.

5.  Use all 12 pentominoes to make 3D geometric shapes, as seen in Fig.6 and Fig.7 below.

6.  Using all 12 pentominoes you can construct three-dimensional scale models of every pentomino - except 11 and 12 - as seen in Fig.5 below.

THE GAME FOR 2 TO 4 PLAYERS

Principals of the game

Each player takes a pentomino and places it on the chessboard in turn. The winner is the last player to be able to place a piece. Players can play in pairs, the aim being to block your opponents while leaving a move for your partner. The game will last between 5 and 10 minutes.

Fundamental rules

1.  The first piece placed on the board MUST cover one of the four squares that surround the centre point. See Fig.3 for an example.

2.  Each piece placed after that MUST touch at least one of the corners of a piece already on the board. See Fig.4 for an example.

Variations

Instead of taking pentominoes one at a time from a shared pile, they can be divided up before the game begins. One method is to allocate all ODD pentominoes to one player (or team) and all the EVEN pentominoes to the other player (or team).